King of the Wilderness

”This stone trough is today’s stage. Its function is to hold charcoal and concentrate heat.”

Next, he took out the roll of professional annealed steel wire tripwire.

Lin Yu’an unrolled the entire coil of steel wire tripwire and began weaving a massive metal mesh grill.

First, he twisted several strands of wire into one to create a thicker ”main rib” as the framework of the grill.

Then, using thinner single strands, he wove them back and forth across the frame to create evenly spaced grids.

It took him a full two hours to complete this gigantic metal grill, over two meters long and about forty centimeters wide.

Then he securely placed the grill on a long stone-built barbecue pit, unveiling a massive primitive barbecue setup before him.

(ps: Picture, focus on the atmosphere)

Finally, he filled the entire stone trough with large amounts of dry firewood and ignited them. Flames roared skyward, turning the metal grill red-hot and melting the surrounding snow.

He didn’t rush to start cooking but patiently waited until all the wood burned into stable, dark red-glowing hot charcoal.

Then, he moved the two storage baskets filled with mussels next to the grill.

He grabbed a large handful of mussels and spread them evenly over the scorching hot metal grill with a loud ”woosh.”

”Sizzle——”

The mussels’ shells sizzled loudly upon contact with the scalding metal, releasing waves of white steam.

At that moment, Lin Yu’an seemed to transform into an experienced barbecue master, wielding two long wooden sticks to continuously flip and stir the heap of mussels on the grill, ensuring they were evenly heated.

Soon, the wonderful chemical reactions began.

Even though the mussels were dead, the intense heat from the charcoal rapidly vaporized the moisture inside their shells, creating immense internal pressure.

Simultaneously, the adductor muscles connecting the shells quickly denatured, contracted, and snapped under the high temperature.

The sound of ”pop, pop, pop” resonated, more muffled than when cooking live mussels but still frequent.

Steam and external heat forcibly pried open the mussels’ shells, revealing the orange flesh inside, now fully cooked.

An indescribable, pure, oceanic salty aroma mixed with the smokiness of the charcoal instantly filled the entire camp.

He quickly scooped the opened, cooked mussels off the grill with the wooden sticks, piling them onto a large, clean piece of birch bark nearby.

Then, he immediately spread a new batch of raw mussels onto the grill.

Just like that, spreading, flipping, listening to the pleasant ”pop pop” of shells opening, and scooping them off, he worked like an efficient assembly line worker, repeating the process continuously.

Time flew by in the monotonous yet fulfilling repetitive labor, from morning to afternoon, with barely a moment’s pause.

When the final batch of mussels was cooked and removed from the grill, the sun had begun to set in the west.

He had spent the entire day processing the hundreds of pounds of ”strategic reserves” into safe, delicious cooked food.

He didn’t choose to shell them all immediately.

This was a massive undertaking; shelling them all could take half a day, and the shells themselves were the best natural storage containers.

He waited patiently for the cooked mussels to cool until they were no longer too hot to handle. Then, he repacked this final batch of shell-on cooked mussels back into the cattail baskets.

He carried the baskets full of cooked mussels to the place outside the shelter where the snow was deepest and buried them deeply. The thick snow is a natural, perfect refrigerator.

”All done.”

”Starting tomorrow, I’ll only need to dig out a few, drop them into a pot for a quick heat, and enjoy delicious grilled mussels.”

”This will be my most stable source of protein for a long time to come.”

On the morning of the fifteenth day, Lin Yu’an awoke late, nearly nine o’clock.

This was the first time he allowed himself to sleep until he naturally woke up since entering the wilderness.

Last night, in the warm, dry shelter, listening to the ”crackling” of wood burning in the fireplace and the howling wind and snow outside, he slept incredibly soundly.

(ps: Picture mainly capturing the atmosphere)

He slowly sat up, feeling physically exhausted yet mentally an unprecedented relaxation and peace.

With the food supply issue temporarily resolved and a sturdy shelter basically formed, the two heaviest burdens on his mind were finally lifted.

As he stepped out of the shelter, the dazzling sunlight made him squint his eyes. Overnight, the world had donned a new outfit.

Last night’s heavy snow had covered all traces of his previous steps, creating a pristine white landscape, with only a few resilient conifers showing their dark green hues.

The air was as biting as a knife, with a sharp sting when inhaled into the lungs.

”A perfect sunny day, but the temperature must be below minus ten degrees.” He rubbed his hands together, releasing a thick cloud of white breath.

”Before starting today’s work, I should conduct my routine patrol. Although I don’t expect much, gathering intelligence is necessary. I must see if there are any new traces after such heavy snowfall.”

This time, his mindset was completely different from before, not hopeful of finding food but akin to a scout purely collecting intelligence.

He first headed towards the coniferous forest, trudging through the thick snow with effort to reach the first trap he set up yesterday, observing it closely.

The trap remained intact, with the camouflaged white lasso still hanging quietly under the brush’s passage.

To his surprise, there was a set of new rabbit tracks not far in front of the trap.

This trail extended to about a meter in front of the trap before stopping abruptly, followed by a few slightly chaotic marking steps, then taking a near 180-degree sharp turn, and fleeing in another direction.

”It noticed.” Lin Yu’an crouched, studying the story in the snow.

”Look here, it stopped here and hesitated. It might not have seen the lasso but smelled the scent I left here yesterday.”

”After a heavy snowfall, the rabbits’ vigilance peaks. They are extremely sensitive to any fresh human scent that doesn’t belong in this forest.”

He checked the remaining three traps, finding similar situations.

He stood up, brushing the snow off his hands: ”The conclusion is clear, relying solely on passive traps in the current phase is immensely challenging, leaving luck as the only hope.”

Returning to the shelter, standing at the empty doorway.

The cold wind was blowing through this opening, converging with the heat from the fireplace to form a small whirlwind.

”Today, we complete the final piece of this fortress puzzle, installing a door on it.”

Then, Lin Yu’an began explaining his door installation plan in detail to the camera.

————

(Beijing time 7:04 Good morning, it’s Monday again, remember to eat breakfast.)

(It’s also the end of the month, please vote me 1 [Monthly Ticket] non-content charges)